Abstract
This paper reports quantitative topographical measurements using a heated atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever probe. The study compares topographies measured by the cantilever thermal signal to topographies measured by the laser-deflection signal of an AFM system. The experiment used 20 and 100 nm tall Si gratings as topographical test samples. The cantilever heater temperature ranged from 130 to 640 °C, and the cantilever power ranged from 1.5 to 6.6 mW. The measured topography sensitivity, which is the fractional change of the heated cantilever resistance, has a |ΔRcant|/Rcant of 4.5 × 10-5 to 1.1 × 10-3 per vertical nanometer, which is 10-100 times greater than that of similarly sized piezoresistive cantilevers. In a proof of concept demonstration, the heated cantilever measures the topography of a microfabricated platinum line of thickness 100 nm on a silicon dioxide substrate.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 95-103 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical |
Volume | 136 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Atomic force microscopy
- Cantilever
- Thermal microscopy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Instrumentation
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Surfaces, Coatings and Films
- Metals and Alloys
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering